Tackling data security in your business

We’re not talking about hacking and malicious attacks. We’re talking about the danger that lies within your own organisation: Apathy. If you’ve read about Data Security in your business in Poles Apart: Challenges for business in the digital age, you’ll know all about this!

This recent research supports our findings that data security is way down the list of priorities for a lot of small businesses. You can read the full article here in The Pitch: “According to recent AVG research, small business owners still do not understand the true value of their data… and a worrying 37% confessed to spending more time tidying their desks than backing up their data.”

We’ve covered this but it deserves repeating:

Your databases and servers hold client information, contract details, personnel files, designs, and other intellectual property….. What would be in the impact on the business if all this data was lost or corrupted?

So what value do you place on your company’s data? What’s your backup routine? Do you use cloud services to store all your files, or are you relying on a single hard disk which could fail at any time?

You hear stories every day of people losing years of photographs stored on a laptop – it’s happened in my family, with a sudden hard drive collapse on a two year old machine between backups, but luckily only a few days of data had to be recovered. What would be the effect on your business if your company records vanished without trace?

There are so many simple solutions available which can make your business administration both more streamlined and safer. Polar Bears, recognise the risk – if you are using cloud drives, are your passwords secure and strong? – and Penguins, don’t be afraid to dive in and explore the options! Next time you tidy your desk, make sure your data is tidy, too.